The Yamaha Music Foundation is an organization established in 1966 by the authority of the Japanese Ministry of Education for the purpose of promoting music education and music popularization. It continued a program of music classes begun by Yamaha Corporation in 1954. Its unique, systematic teaching method and teacher training programs are highly valued in Japan and other countries. The foundation is known for its organizing of the World Popular Song Festival which it organized from 1970 until 1989.